Lionel William John Tollemache, 8th Earl of Dysart (18 November 1794 – 23 September 1878), known as Lionel Manners until 1821, as Lionel Tollemache between 1821 and 1833, and styled Lord Huntingtower between 1833 and 1840, was a British peer and

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

politician.

Background

Dysart was the son of William Manners (later William Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower) and poet Catherine Rebecca Gray, daughter of Francis Gray. In 1821, when his grandmother Louisa Tollemache became 7th

Countess of Dysart Earl of Dysart (pronounced ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1643 and has been held continuously since then by descendants of the 1st Earl, William Murray. Creation The title was created in 1643 for William Murray, ...

, he assumed by Royal licence the surname of Tollemache in lieu of Manners. Upon his father's death in 1833, he succeeded as second Baronet of Hanby Hall and as

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to his grandmother, with the

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

of Lord Huntingtower.

Political career

Dysart sat as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Ilchester Ilchester is a village and civil parish, situated on the River Yeo or Ivel, five miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. Originally a Roman town, and later a market town, Ilchester has a rich medieval history and was a notable ...

, alongside his younger brother the Hon. Felix Tollemache, from 1827 until they were defeated at the 1830 general election. In 1836 he was appointed

High Sheriff of Leicestershire This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Leicestershire, United Kingdom. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most ...

. In 1841 he succeeded his grandmother in the earldom of Dysart and to her estate at

Ham House Ham House is a 17th-century house set in formal gardens on the bank of the River Thames in Ham, south of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The original house was completed in 1610 by Thomas Vavasour, an Elizabethan cou ...

in Surrey. However, as this was a

Scottish peerage The Peerage of Scotland ( gd, Moraireachd na h-Alba, sco, Peerage o Scotland) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Union, ...

it did not entitle him to a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

Family

Lord Dysart married Maria Elizabeth, daughter of Sweeny Toone, in 1819. In 1820 she bore one son, William Lionel Felix Tollemache. She died in March 1852. Lord Dysart died on 23 September 1878, aged 83, and was succeeded in the earldom by his grandson, William John Manners Tollemache, 9th Earl of Dysart, his son William, styled 'Lord Huntingtower', having predeceased him. (Citing

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

) With Esther Cox, Lord Dysart had a natural son Alfred Cox (born 28 March 1818), who changed his name to Alfred Manners in 1850.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dysart, Lionel Tollemache, 8th Earl of 1794 births 1878 deaths Earls of Dysart Tory MPs (pre-1834) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs who inherited peerages High Sheriffs of Leicestershire Lionel Tollemache, 8th Earl Dysart